Officials plan to improve county's 'worst' apartment complex

HOUSTON The apartment complex spans a few blocks and is essentially a small town that the Harris County District Attorney's Office wants to clean up because right now, gunfire at night is the norm.

Last year, the 700-unit complex racked up to 3,000 phone calls for drug trafficking, prostitution, robberies, burglaries and much more.

Parents are worried about kids getting caught up in the crossfire as gunshots are the norm.

"You can be in your room at nighttime, laying down on your bed and you have to get your kids and put them on the floor for the simple fact that they're outside shooting," concerned parent Crystal Washington said.

The complex at the corner of Highway 59 and Aldine Bender Road houses more than 2,400 people, which is larger than some Texas towns. But the crime is taking place before impressionable eyes.

"People are robbing people over here, selling dope, selling weed and stuff like that," teenage resident Kevinecia Lumpkin said. "It's bad for their mind 'cause there's a lot of children over here."

Within hours of being there, our cameras captured two arrests and deputies are preparing for many more, with the help of the new owners of the complex and the Harris County District Attorney's Office, who's preparing to implement a new comprehensive model to clean up the complex.

"We're gonna go in and get an injunction against the gangs. We're gonna go in there and make the arrests on the outstanding warrants," Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos said. "We're working with HUD to go in there and find the people who've falsified their applications."

Residents welcome the effort and hope that a quiet night will soon be in the future of this complex instead of the gunfire.

The plan includes having deputy officers on site and a community center that will include literacy classes, extracurricular activities and nutrition. It'll all be implemented in the next few months.

The district attorney's office hopes this will be a template they can use to help clean up other problem complexes in the county.